Two Books Chronicle the History of Pornographic Cinema

Jacques Zimmer's 'Le cinéma X' (448 pages, over 500 illustrations) provides the first comprehensive history of pornographic cinema, covering directors, producers, countries, and performers. The book traces the genre from early clandestine films to the 1975 French law creating the X classification and its commercial decline by 1982. Simultaneously, actress-director Ovidie publishes 'Porno Manifesto' (Flammarion), offering a positive account of working conditions in French porn, challenging stereotypes about violence, drug use, and mafia involvement. Ovidie, a self-described 'sex worker' and 'pro-sex feminist,' argues that porn can have artistic and ludic motivations beyond profit. Her book received little critical attention compared to repentant hardcore performer Raffaela Anderson's earlier bestseller. A third book, 'Entretien avec Jeanne de Berg' (Les Impressions nouvelles), collects a conversation between Catherine Robbe-Grillet (aka Jeanne de Berg) and novelist Irène Frain, comparing her sado-masochistic practices with Catherine Millet's 'La Vie sexuelle de Catherine M.' The discussion highlights differences in transparency versus masking, and the separation of sexual and sentimental realms.